The effects of transparency cues on news source credibility online: An investigation of ‘opinion labels’

Abstract

Unlabeled opinionated content on search engines and social media can potentially affect news consumers’ perceptions of the credibility of news sources. This paper explores the effects of ‘opinion labels’ on news previews (known as ‘story cards’) on readers’ perceptions of news source credibility. Participants ( N = 389) in a 3x2x2 study were presented with a feed containing biased and unbiased content from one news source. Labeling opinionated content on story cards significantly increased the perceived credibility of the news source ( p < 0.01), supporting the role of opinion segmentation on credibility. The findings have socio-political implications as they indicate that design choices such as labeling content can significantly impact credibility and trust in news media.